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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28334841">Ashes to Ashes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Es_Aitch/pseuds/Es_Aitch'>Es_Aitch</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hurt Fic [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:34:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,518</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28334841</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Es_Aitch/pseuds/Es_Aitch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when the Doctor finds himself on a planet made entirely of ice?</p><p>Set immediately after “Doctor Mysterio”.</p><p>(This fic is complete and chapters will be posted once a week.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hurt Fic [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1393168</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Doctor had gone to New York City to try to correct the time distortions.  Not that he could save the Pond-Williams.  By this point in time, they would have been long buried.  But there were still severe problems and he had been the cause.  He only wanted to fix it.  Instead, he had encountered Grant and couldn’t leave until he was sure that Grant understood the power of the Gem Stone and the responsibilities that went with it.  With Lucy and Jennifer to help him, the Doctor felt confident that he could leave them. </p><p>He would have to come up with a different plan to correct the problems surrounding New York.  Maybe he should take this as a hint to just leave things alone.  Mr Huffle stared at him from the perch on the console.  The Doctor glared back.  “Shut up!”</p><p>“There you are, Sir.”</p><p>The Doctor sighed heavily.  Just when he thought things couldn’t get worse.  “Nardole.”</p><p>His tone had a bit of an edge to it.  He just wanted to be left alone.  He didn’t care what others thought.  After all, as long as he was with the TARDIS, he was never really alone.  Now, not only did he have Nardole, which was bad enough, but he had Mr Huffle.</p><p>Nardole tried to gauge the Doctor’s mood.  But he didn’t have to, because for once the Doctor spoke.  “How much did you tell them?”<br/>
“Not as much as you probably think.”<br/>
“But more than I’d like.”<br/>
“That’s not difficult since you don’t want me to tell anyone anything.”</p><p>The Doctor shrugged.  Nardole was right about that.  He wasn’t ready to talk about any of this yet.  Besides, it’s not like he did emotions.  Even if he was feeling a hole in his hearts he hadn’t felt since he had left Susan behind on Earth.  The conversation would happen eventually, so may as well get it over with.  “I cut you out of Hydroflax or you would’ve died.”<br/>
“You didn’t save Ramone.”<br/>
“He was an idiot.”<br/>
“Doesn’t stop you from saving other humans.”<br/>
“She asked me to save you.  Happy?”<br/>
“You’ve told her ‘no’ plenty of times.”<br/>
“What do you want from me, Nardole?”<br/>
“A serious conversation.”<br/>
“I had 24 years of that.  I’m maxed out.”</p><p>Nardole gave him a look.  The Doctor pulled a hand down his face, then sat on one of the chairs, and gestured that Nardole should continue.  Nardole walked over to Mr Huffle and picked him up.  It was more to give his hands something to play with than to use as an interrogation method.  “You’re going to be sad for a long time.  And I know this is how you’re choosing to deal with it.  So, against everything she ever told me, I think you need some time alone.”</p><p>The Doctor looked up at that and met Nardole’s eyes.  Surprise was etched all over his usually sharp features.  He couldn’t believe Nardole had just said that.  He nodded.  “I’m listening.”</p><p>“I’ll let the TARDIS choose a location, I’ll stay here to watch the Vault, and you go off and get it out of your system.”<br/>
“But…?”<br/>
“I choose where we stay to watch over the Vault.”</p><p>The Doctor frowned.  That would be giving a lot more power to Nardole than he was comfortable with.  There was a soft hum from the TARDIS.  He narrowed his eyes.  “So, you stay here and do the research about wherever we stay and I get to go off on my own the way I used to travel by myself and I can pretty much pretend you don’t exist?”</p><p>Nardole nodded once.  It was a tempting trade.  The Doctor knew the TARDIS would decide the ultimate location for where they would plant themselves.  But he frowned for a moment.  “Why?  Why would you do that?”<br/>
“Before we settle anywhere for a thousand years, you need to get this out of your system or we all might end up killing each other.”</p><p>The Doctor pursed his lips, but nodded in agreement.  Even if a thousand years seemed rather short compared to four-and-a-half billion, between Nardole, the TARDIS, and Missy, he could find himself becoming rather miserable.  He thought long and hard about it.  “Okay, I think I can agree to that.”</p><p>Nardole smiled.  “Good.  One more thing.”</p><p>The Doctor groaned.  “I <em>knew</em> it!”<br/>
“The TARDIS chooses the location you go.”</p><p>Now a faint smile appeared.  “And that’s it?  No more ‘one more things’?”</p><p>Nardole shook his head.  The Doctor stood and held out his hand.  “Then I agree.”</p><p>They shook on it.  Then Nardole took Mr Huffle and disappeared out of the console room.  The Doctor just watched him leave, a bit slack jawed.  He hadn’t expected it to be quite that easy.  Still, it was good.  He could work with this.</p><p>He approached the console.  He only pressed one button and looked up at the Time Rotor.  “Okay, you did right by taking me to Mendorax Dellora.  You know what I need right now.  Take me there.”</p><p>With that, he engaged the lever and sent the ship on her way.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The TARDIS materialised and the Doctor checked the readings, since he didn’t know where she had taken him.  The air was breathable for him, but only just.  The temperatures were pretty chilly – the highest temperature being -60℃.  “I’ve been in temperatures like that before.  I will need to wear my Crombie coat… I wonder where I’ve put it?” </p><p>He wondered at first if the TARDIS had only taken him to the South Pole on Earth, forcing him to follow the original agreement of no travelling.  But the winds were not high enough.  He turned on the monitor to take a look at the surface and grinned when he saw where the TARDIS had landed.</p><p>It was a vast ice-scape and clearly not on Earth.  In fact, if the readings were to be believed, the entire space surrounding them contained either some forms of ice, or were carbon-based in nature.  There were no rocks, or even ground, apart from the ice.  Curious and exciting.  Given how planets formed, he assumed there would be some rocks or something solid at the centre of the planet, but it was clearly miles below the surface.  However, the images before him were stunning.</p><p>The Doctor looked to the upper level of the console room.  Hanging there on one of the hooks was his Crombie coat.  He patted the console.  “Thank you, dear.”</p><p>He rushed up and put it on.  Then he went to the doors, took a deep breath, and stepped outside.</p><p>Nothing ever compared to the experience of setting foot on a new planet for the first time.  It’s why he often needed to surround himself with humans.  Especially if he was returning to a planet he had visited before.  He inhaled deeply.  He would not be able to stay as long as he wished.  After all, this was just within the limits of air components he required.  Humans would have a difficult time here.  Still, he could breathe well enough.</p><p>He started to wander off.  He needed to think.  He found a rise in the land.  Depending upon where on Earth such a place was located, some might have called it a foothill.  Others, a mountain.  For him, it just meant the ability to exercise and well, he wanted a view.  This trip wasn’t about research or necessarily learning objectively.  It was about giving himself space to feel sad.  Nardole had been right about that much. </p><p>His twenty-four-year night with River had been amazing, but leaving all that behind now reminded him of all his other losses.  He had told Lucy and Grant that everything begins again and that’s always happy.  But right now, he was about as far from actually believing those words as he could be.</p><p>He knew them to be true.  He had gone through enough regenerations to know that.  But belief is quite different from truth.  For the first time in a very long time, he wanted to be sad.  He needed to be sad.  That was what he was here to experience.  In this barren and desolate area, he needed to be sad without trying to run from it.  He needed to get back to the place where he could believe that starting again could be happy.</p><p>The Doctor came to the rise of the mountain and looked across the ice-scape.  It was quite beautiful.  The sun was just at the horizon and the other planets – or perhaps moons, he hadn’t checked those details – gave the ice a hauntingly greenish colour, almost as if it were alive. </p><p>He returned his gaze to the planet surface itself.  Although he knew there should be rocks, he could tell everything around him was ice.  There was no rock to speak of.  It was like the entire area was a giant glacier.  It was possible there would be rock below the surface, but that was not really why he was here.</p><p>He had a flashback to the castle standing in the water that was his Confession Dial.  He had identified too closely with the castle.  Had he paid more attention to the creature he might have figured things out sooner.  He shook his head.  He wasn’t here to deal with that.  Hadn’t he unpacked it enough with River?</p><p>A chill ran through him that had nothing to do with the breeze or the ice.  He shuddered at the thought of her.  He looked up at the sky, wondering what her life was like now, trapped as she was within the data core.</p><p>As he thought about those questions, his hand subconsciously drifted to the pocket that held her diary.  He pulled it out.  He felt that Nardole knew it far better than he did.  Until now, he hadn’t actually read much of it.  What he had read had been from the middle.  He refused to read either the beginning or the end.</p><p>But that was why he was here.  To focus on the end.  He held the book close to his nose and took a sniff.  No sent of her remained.  He was disappointed by that, but a part of him expected no less.</p><p>There was an outcrop of ice that was much like a boulder and would be perfect for him to sit upon.  Might be cold, but he was never much bothered by the cold. </p><p>It was time.  He had avoided this for too long.  He sat down and opened the book.  He turned to the end of the book and looked for an entry about The Library.  If he knew his wife, she would have completed the diary before sacrificing herself.  Otherwise, none of her words to the younger him would have made any sense.</p><p>She had told him before they parted that she had come to know this him as the ‘real him’.  So, he knew the last pages would be meant for him, not for ‘sandshoes and hair’ or ‘big chin’.  He took a breath and opened the diary to the last pages.  Without actually touching the page he traced her script lovingly.  He hadn’t even started to read yet.  He couldn’t.  He just needed a little more time to believe she was still alive.</p><p>He shook his head at that thought.  She <em>was</em> alive!  He had ensured that with how he fixed the Data Core.  She and Charlotte and the two children Donna had mentioned were all alive, along with any others he could save from the Vashta Nerada.</p><p>As the Doctor looked back down at the diary, there was a sudden large tremor that vibrated through the ice.  “Hmm.  Not entirely stable.”</p><p>He pocketed the diary, put on his sonic shades, and scanned all around him, trying to figure out if there was danger or if this was normal for this planet.  He groaned as the readings were inconclusive.  He scanned again, but from what little he could tell, things had settled down again.</p><p>He put the sonic away and took the diary back out as he sat down again.  He took a breath and opened it to the last pages.  The cold was making it difficult to read what was written there, but he knew he had to face it or he would never be able to settle into whatever new life awaited him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Doctor had finished reading the words, “<em>All my love always, River</em>”, when it happened.</p><p>It started as a low rumble but then suddenly there was a massive explosion in the distance.  The distance being the direction of the TARDIS.  The Doctor gasped.  “Volcanos!” </p><p>He pocketed the diary and tried to look around for the safest route to get back to the TARDIS.  As he was about to start moving, he saw a massive explosion.  His best guess was that it was between himself and the TARDIS.  He looked down and realised that the TARDIS had been parked in what could be a massive volcano.  The ledge he was on was the rim of the structure.  “Oh, this is very not good.”</p><p>He wasn’t sure if it would be better to run along the ridge he was on or to make his way down and dash for the TARDIS.  He didn’t like any of his options.  “Take a breath, Doctor.  You’ve been in worse situations.  You’ll be fine.”</p><p>Talking to himself usually helped.  But not this time.  He wasn’t worried about his own safety, but for the TARDIS.  The ridge he was on seemed stable enough.  The TARDIS, though, there was no way to know if she had been hit by the explosion or not.  Even ice volcanos could do severe damage and just because the planet was ice, didn’t mean that molten lava couldn’t spew from the centre of the planet.  Having never been to this planet before, he had no way to know how much damage any of this might do to the TARDIS.  He had to get to her.</p><p>He started running along the ridge, since it would take him in roughly the right direction.  He only hoped another eruption didn’t happen because he would be caught in it this time.</p><p>The Doctor came to a stop when he saw the TARDIS in the distance, her little light at the top and deep blue colour easily discernible against to the rest of the environment.  But she was moving.  Like a ship on a sea.  Only it wasn’t sea, he hoped it was ice.  True lava would typically be so hot that it could transform ice directly into water vapours.  On a world as cold as this, that wouldn’t necessarily happen.  It was possible for the air to be cold enough to transition the lava into something more solid.  But that didn’t mean it would be safe for him to cross.</p><p>He moved as close as he could.  That was when he noticed it.  The TARDIS wasn’t floating.  It was very slowly sinking.  “No!”</p><p>The word was only a breath that escaped his lips.  There was nothing he could do.  He only hoped Nardole noticed what was going on and would save them all.  He didn’t even know how to let the droid know the trouble they all were in.</p><p>The Doctor hadn’t felt this helpless in a very long time.  He slowly sank down until he was in a sitting position.  Usually, he could do something.   Or anything.  Not this time.  He sat watching as the TARDIS slowly sank further into the slushy looking ground.</p><p>The TARDIS could survive anything she wanted to; the Doctor knew that.  That doesn’t mean she didn’t get hurt, though.  Her current exterior hid all her wounds.  He wondered how she would look if everyone could see all the effects of the injuries she had sustained over the years.  Sure, there were times that she showed some of them, when every once in a while, she appeared as if she needed a new coat of paint.  But that was usually the worst of it.  The one time she needed time to heal was after she had held the Master’s Paradox open for a year…</p><p>He shook his head.  He really didn’t want to think about that.  He looked across the landscape towards her form.  He could tell the fluid – be it ice or lava – had reached the bottom edge of her doors.  “Come on, Dear, you can do it.”</p><p>He reached in his pockets and pulled out the Sonic she had made for him when they had finally been reunited after the separation in the Confession Dial and all that happened on Gallifrey.  He feared he was too far away, but as Ohila had said, “Hope is a terrible thing on the scaffold.”</p><p>And yet, he could never resist hope.  He stood and aimed the sonic at the TARDIS and then activated it.  “Come on, come on!  You can do it!”</p><p>He heard her engines, even from this distance and his hope surged for a moment.  Then he heard them suddenly stop.  He lowered the sonic.  He pulled out his sonic specks and put them on.  Maybe he could activate them and get Nardole’s attention.  “Nardole?  Nardole, can you hear me?  I’m not contacting you because I’m in danger.  I’m contacting you because <em>you</em> are!  Nardole!”</p><p>He paused between each phrase hoping for a reply, but heard nothing.  He left the specks on in case Nardole was just having trouble getting to a place from where he could send a reply.</p><p>In a nervous gesture, the Doctor rubbed the back of his neck.  “Why does everything I do always end in screaming and running and bleeding?”</p><p>The ground rumbled again.  He looked all around him.  Off in the distance in the other direction, there was another massive explosion.  He was glad it was the other way, but that still didn’t bode well for his current predicament.  He took a breath to calm himself.  If it was ice and it was just slushy, it was possible for him to get to the TARDIS.  It would leave a mess in the console room when he entered, but maybe he was light enough to not sink.</p><p>Inspired by this new hope, he stood and again started running along the edge.  After some minutes, he found he was directly across from where the TARDIS was.  He could see that the slush was now half-way up the first square panel.  Good, at least she wasn’t sinking as quickly as he had first assumed.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Doctor looked over the edge upon which he was stood and stared down.  He couldn’t tell where the slush or lava began and the side ended.  He looked across to the TARDIS.  He had to try.  He held out his hand to see if he could feel any temperature difference rising from the space below him, but there was nothing discernible.  He might still be too far away.  “Well, nothing for it.”</p><p>With that, he started to slowly make his way down the ridge.  He didn’t want to fall into the slush, but from here, it was hard to tell exactly where it began.  While his insides screamed at him to get to the TARDIS as quickly as possible, there would be no hope if they both were caught in the substance.</p><p>As he got closer to where he thought the slush was, he watched the way it moved.  It was moving.  He had been directly across the TARDIS when he started to make his way down, but now she was a little to the right.  He looked back at the slushy material.  It wasn’t moving as fast as lava, but it still had that sense of flow that lava did.</p><p>The Doctor patted all the pockets of his coat, wondering what he could use to test the density.  He realised he did have his yo-yo, so he pulled it out and let it fall and hit the slush and come back.  The yo-yo didn’t melt, so at least he knew it wasn’t too hot and it bounced rather than sinking, so it was more like slush than water.  Both of these were good things.  He pulled the yo-yo up and debated touching it.  He pulled his white sleeve slightly down to cover his hand.  It wouldn’t give much protection, but a little was better than nothing.  He touched the yo-yo.  It was damp, but it didn’t burn.  Not with heat, anyway.  It was very cold.  He could sense that now.  It was much colder down here than anywhere else.  “A planet entirely of ice and even the centre is molten ice?  Fascinating!”</p><p>He looked towards the TARDIS.  He had no time to think about the planet right now.  He needed to focus on getting to her, if he could.  The yo-yo had survived, maybe he could too.  He slowly made his way the last few feet he was on a small ledge and realised that if the ice flow were like a river, it would eventually come up to this ledge.  It was close to it now.  Like a flood.  He slowly stepped onto the flow.</p><p>The Doctor expected to sink, but he didn’t.  There were no chunks of ice in the flow or debris for him to stand on.  “So, should I chance it and make a run?”</p><p>He bit his lip in thought.  He activated his sonic specks and tried to call Nardole one more time.  He received no reply. </p><p>Disappointed, he nodded to himself, and started to make his way across the flow towards the TARDIS.  He found that if he moved fast enough, he didn’t sink too much, however, if he took his time and moved carefully, he would sink slightly.  It was never more than the top of his boots, but it was more than he wanted, so he kept moving.</p><p>It took about ten minutes – for a Time Lord, he could easily ignore time for more important matters – to get to the TARDIS.  By the time he reached her, the ice had completely covered the first panel and was making its way up the second.  Question was: would she let him in?</p><p>It would cause a bit of a mess, but shouldn’t be as much as he had thought earlier and he could always make Nardole clean it up.  After all, he had agreed to Nardole’s terms and the droid said ‘let the TARDIS choose.’</p><p>Still, the TARDIS could be picky about opening her doors when she knew she would get dirty.  Now that he was so close to her and standing still, he was sinking too.  “Come on, Old Girl, we’ll get out of here quicker if you just let me in.”</p><p>He added a silent prayer to a God he wasn’t sure he believed in as he turned the key.  He sighed with relief when the door opened.  He moved in quickly and very little of the flow followed him.  He quickly shut the door and ran to the console.  Without making any settings, he engaged the lever.  He didn’t care where they went as long as it was out of the flow.</p><p>He sighed with relief when he heard the engines start up and take them into the Vortex.  Now he needed a safe place to take her so he could check her for damage.  He scanned the monitor and then groaned a bit bemused.  “Seriously?”</p><p>He sighed.  “Well, if that’s what the two of you want, we can, but we'll have to find a place to avoid our previous selves.”</p><p>The monitor scanned in and showed a location to him.  “Bit desolate right now, but that might be for the best.”</p><p>He was pretty sure he could find a cave for them to hide in until buildings started to appear.  The vault would just have to remain inside the TARDIS for now.  No travelling for him.  Which he had promised, so he supposed maybe this was her way of ensuring he kept it.  He set the coordinates and let the TARDIS take them to Bristol, England. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Doctor stepped out and looked around.  He pursed his lips.  “Okay, my history is a bit off, not as desolate as I expected.”</p><p>He put his finger in his mouth and then held it out to the air.  Then he stuck it back in his mouth.  He heard Nardole exit the TARDIS, so he spoke more to the droid than himself.  “1383.  We’re on the out skirts of Bristol, chosen by you and the TARDIS.  It already has county status and with the sea ports it should be able to provide us with all we need.”</p><p>Nardole smiled.  “So, me and the TARDIS did well, then?”</p><p> The Doctor shrugged.  “That remains to be seen.  It’ll be 100 years before things really kick off.”</p><p>Nardole turned to enter the Old Blue Box again, but he gasped in horror.  “What’s happened to her?”</p><p>The Doctor didn’t like the tone, so he too turned around.  He looked at the TARDIS and gasped.  She looked terrible.  The light at the top was bent out of shape and the glass shattered, she had deep gashes and burn marks all over her exterior, but most telling of all, she wasn’t blue.  She was grey-ish.  From a distance, she could almost be confused as a rock formation.  Nardole hesitated, but touched her gently.  “Did the chameleon circuit start to work again?”</p><p>The Doctor approached and he too touched her gently.  “No, I think it’s far worse than that.”<br/>“What is it, then?”<br/>“There was a problem on the planet we landed on.  I’ve got years to tell you about it, but this… I think this is what she would look like if we saw her for all the things she’s suffered over her long life.”<br/>“Anything we can do to help?”</p><p>The Doctor turned to face the city of Bristol.  “Not right now.  It’s best to leave her as she is.  It will serve as enough of a disguise, especially if we can find a cave to hide in.”</p><p>Nardole followed the Doctor’s gaze.  “Caves could be good or bad this close to the sea.”</p><p>The Doctor nodded his agreement.  “Everything inside seems to be working as it should.  It’s merely her exterior that appears damaged.  Let’s take a look at her maps, I’d like to be closer to the city, if we can manage it.  A deep enough cave will keep us safe from the sea.”</p><p>Nardole wasn’t pleased, but knew the Doctor was right.  Besides, if the TARDIS wanted to look a certain way, there was nothing anyone could do about it.  Though the Doctor’s reaction told him there was a story that he would hear, one way or another.  He followed the Doctor inside and each of them looked at one of the monitors as they discussed a location they could move to.</p><p>They bickered back and forth for some time, but finally agreed on a location.  It was deep enough that they should be safe from the tide, but it was close enough to the city that they would be able to get supplies easily.  Maybe even jobs.  The Doctor set the coordinates and the TARDIS moved without problems.  So, he knew her exterior was more of a message.  Maybe she had heard his thoughts from earlier.  Who was he kidding?  Of course, she had heard them.  She had just never acted on them before.  At least, not like this.</p><p>Everything caught up with the Doctor.  He suddenly realised just how wet and cold he was.  Earth was a substantially warmer planet, yet the cold from earlier hit him with full force.  He shuddered violently and had to grasp the console to steady himself.</p><p>Nardole noticed the change immediately.  “Sir?”<br/>“I’m fine.”<br/>“No you’re not.  What happened?”<br/>“I’ll tell you later.  I’m just cold.”</p><p>Nardole frowned at that.  It was rare for the Doctor to admit such a thing.  That was when he realised there was a mess of water at the entrance.  He had been distracted by the landing and seeing how terrible the TARDIS looked, but now, he wondered if everything was linked.</p><p>The Doctor tried to move from the console, but found he had to quickly grasp the railing.  Nardole noticed this too and ignored the mess to help the Doctor.  “Come on, Doctor, let me help.”</p><p>When the Doctor didn’t protest, Nardole knew whatever had happened wasn’t good.  He just wasn’t sure how much he could press.  For now, it was important to get the Doctor dry and warm.  “We need to warm you up.  Shower or bath?”</p><p>The Doctor pursed his lips as he leant on Nardole for support.  “Bath will be quicker.  I’m not really dirty, just cold.”</p><p>Nardole nodded.  He hoped the TARDIS felt well enough to supply the water at the right temperatures.  While he normally avoided the Doctor’s bedroom, in this case, he thought the Time Lord would feel more comfortable there.  The en suite had a tub and everything would be more easily accessible.  He grinned when he heard the water running.  Apparently, the TARDIS was in better shape than the Doctor.</p><p>While the tub had been filling, the Doctor stripped down to his pants.  He wasn’t comfortable being naked in front of Nardole.  By that point, there was enough water in the tub that the Doctor climbed in.  He could sit in it as it finished filling.  It wasn’t hot water.  He wanted hot, but he knew if he had frostbite or anything similar, this was a better way to warm up. </p><p>He didn’t really think while he let the water warm him.  He just allowed his mind to empty.  He had done enough thinking and now that they were in a single place, there would be plenty of time for thinking.  He sighed.  “A thousand years.  Time enough.”</p><p>He remained in the tub about twenty minutes.  Then he pulled the plug, climbed out, dried off, and dressed.</p><p>He felt better.  Sometimes it was just a matter of giving himself the space to not think.   His thoughts turned to the TARDIS.  It was time to sort her.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Doctor slowly made his way to the console room and exited the TARDIS.  He turned to look at her.  She looked as distressed as before, maybe a bit more, but that could be a trick of the lighting in the dimness of the cave.  He made his way to the mouth of the cave.  Yes, this would do quite nicely.  Once the town starts building up and out, he could find a better location to park.  For now, the Vault would need to remain in the TARDIS.  He returned to the TARDIS and rested his hands upon her exterior.  It pained him to see her injuries displayed so blatantly. </p><p>A few moments later, Nardole exited.  He tilted his head and took in the Doctor and the ship.  “We just have to wait, don’t we?  She’ll change and clean herself up when she’s good and ready.”</p><p>The Doctor sighed and nodded his agreement.  “The last time she even allowed herself a hint at how she would really look, we had battled with the Weeping Angels in New York.  That time, though, she only showed the injuries from that battle.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen her quite like this.”</p><p>Nardole pursed his lips.  “You two are connected.  So, when she looks like this, does it hurt you?”<br/>“No.  Well, not physically.  I don’t like to see anyone in pain.”</p><p>Nardole smirked.  “Anyone you care about, anyway.”</p><p>The Doctor offered a small smirk and shrugged.  “She’s really okay.  I think, in some ways, we all have time to heal.  And for a change, we can take our time.  We have a thousand years.  Though, I doubt it will take that long.”<br/>“What happened on that planet?”<br/>“Ice volcanoes.  Lava flow.”</p><p>Nardole hummed and nodded.  “I more meant with you.”</p><p>The Doctor pursed his lips.  “I read the part of the diary that was meant for me.”  He made a gesture to himself.  “<em>This</em> me.”<br/>“Did it help?”<br/>“Not yet.  But it provided closure I think I’ve needed since I left her in The Library.  The rest will come with time.”</p><p>He turned his back on the TARDIS.  She would be fine, eventually.  If she refused to heal on her own, he had plenty of time to fix her up.  What he needed right now was exploring something new.  And pretty much everything was new in Bristol right now.  He grinned at Nardole.  “Shall we go explore the city?”</p><p>Nardole gave a subtle glare.  The Doctor didn’t usually invite him along.  “You sure you’re up for it?”</p><p>The Doctor made his way to the mouth of the cave and took a deep breath.  “Yeah, I think I am.”<br/>“Okay.”</p><p>Nardole joined the Doctor at the mouth of the cave.  After a few minutes of just breathing in the Bristol air, the pair made their way into the city and started to get used to their new home.</p>
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